Hi Mac33, don't be afraid of stressing mast or sail; these are designed to work that way. Hopefully you will enjoy this set-up. Keep us posted.

1st October 2009 01:20 AM

Darko_Z

To get planning with 5 mē, sail in only 13 kn wind, sounds fantastic even with light weight of 67 kg. Normally, with 67 kg, you need 15 to 16 kn wind for that and according to sail calculator you need 18 kn wind to get comfortably at plane.
We would all love to use 5 mē sail and get planning in 13kn, but reality is different. For me main goal for windsurfing is planning 100% of the time. My weight is 90kg, with 5 mē sail and 94l board I need at least 24 kn wind to get planning, if wind drops below 20 kn for 15 s, I go down.
With bigger board and sail 9.5mē I can get planning in 11 to 12 kn wind, for 7.8 mē I need 14 kn and for 6 mē 19 kn.
I try to choose my sail big enough to plane most of the time, but still small enough to keep control in wind gusts. This is important since there is no such thing as steady wind. Usually, if average wind is 15kn, there are wind gusts over 20kn for 5 to 10 s and wind lulls around 10kn for 15 to 30 s.

Generally, I prefer to sail overpowered for 10s every few minutes, than schlogging for few minutes and then get planning for 10 sec.

If I have to sail more upwind or downwind I tend to use bigger sail so I can reach much better angles of sailing. I experimented with sail setting below recommended min setting and could get planning with less wind. But then the batten tension was too high and one batten was broken.
New sails have much bigger wind range than old sails. It was harder to control my old 8mē sail in 20kn than new 9.5mē, so there is no need to be afraid from big sails, except for the price.

30th September 2009 01:08 AM

mac33

sail size

i will give it a go now that that i have got use to rigging up 2 sails/boards.
i have tried this before and could not wait to get back on 5.0m
the stress on mast,leech flutter are other negatives of this setup.
however next 20 + day will rig up 5.8m and close to max downhaul setup.
looked at y/tube clips last night of le defi for an hour,love to have a go if had money for travel.

5.8m on med size board in 15/16 knots for me is ideal.
got caught out using 5.8m a while back in steady 20/22 knots it was hard work and tiring.
had to sail upwind in gusts,had stayed on reach[sheeted in] would have wiped out unquestionably.
was pissed off that day as considered it a half wasted day as dont like to sheet out.

Mac33,

I'm surprised you were risking being wipped out on a reach and it was hard work and tiring in 20/22 knots with a 5.8 m2 sail. This really sounds to me that it was much more windy than you thought. In true 15/16 knots gusting up to 20/22 knots, I had a blast for 6 hours on iSonic 53 speed gun + NP RS1 6.6 m2 sail. At no time was I feared to sheet out in a gust (bad idea in fact), feared from being wipped out or was hard work or tiring. Was I ever pissed off? No way! A perfectly balanced session. And damn' fast : Vmax 29.9 knots. Nice drag racing with a pal on his F2 sputnik + 6.8 m2 sail 100% of the time planing pedal to the metal. Kids, women or freestylers were on 5.4, 5.8 or 6.2 m2 sails and freestyle/freewave/wave boards. They were all planing in 20+ knots gusts whereas the 75+ kg guys on such gear were clearly schlogging in 15 knots lulls, no questions.

My suggestion next time you feel overpowered, tired and pissed off is very simple: set your sail with max downhaul. Outhaul neutral or -1 cm negative is fine for max speed on a broad reach (100-120° angle) without ever thinking of sheeting out. Reason ? The loose leech works properly as designed by the sailmaker for your benefit. You will discover what it really means by sailing in overpowered conditions with a perfectly balanced and tireless sail. Try it ! You'll be surprised... And absolutely no need to change your diet!

Cheers & ride on!

JM

29th September 2009 10:06 PM

mac33

sail size

you are right, rigged correctly to manufacture specs of downhaul, say to 4th batten down with at least neutral outhaul i could stay sheeted in mostly in 20/22 knots.
i found from testing with gps that on reach with 5.8m in resonably chop my peak speed was around 29knots. i hardly ever hit 30 with 5.8m no matter what tuning.
with 5.0m i would never fail to get to 30. i found it hard to better this 30 however .
1 knot difference in speed its not much but most drag races i have are very close.
for most 5.8m would be faster in this wind strength than 5.0m, definately not for me.
its all relative to your weight/ strength
my legs/arms are real slim, maybe i need to stop being a vegetarian[15years] in order to make 5.8m work better than 5.0m in this wind strength.
in golf theres a saying it goes its not how its how many.

29th September 2009 06:57 PM

Farlo

It's the other end, but most modern 5.8 sails are pretty manageable in 20/22 Knts for a 67 Kg sailor. If you rig one properly (flat) you can remain sheeted in without being blown away by gusts. Of course it will have less back hand / low end power. This is not a macho thing, just proper rigging for such conditions.

29th September 2009 03:41 PM

mac33

sail size

i agree 5.0m in 12/13 knots is not fun.
5.8m on med size board in 15/16 knots for me is ideal.
got caught out using 5.8m a while back in steady 20/22 knots it was hard work and tiring.
had to sail upwind in gusts,had stayed on reach[sheeted in] would have wiped out unquestionably.
was pissed off that day as considered it a half wasted day as dont like to sheet out.
as the song goes
and i did it my way.

29th September 2009 02:34 PM

Farlo

Planing in 15/16 Knots with 5.8 mē, yes it works. Lightweight sailors, kids and ladies do that even with "standard" sail tuning and narrow boards. With a baggy 5 mē, why not if the wind is steady enough. Sails of 15+ years ago (NS Infinity, Tiga Power Slalom) had such low end power. Planning in 12/13 Knts with 5 mē as you started this post? Well, if this copes with your definition of funboard... have fun.

29th September 2009 12:29 AM

mac33

sail size

i would not take 5.8m out below 15/16 knots.-farlo

sailed today on 5.8m in exactly that wind and never once off plane on kinetic58. seabreeze website surely cannot be that wrong. sailed 2kms downwind [2/3] legs and [6/7] legs to get upwind again.
did not rig to manufactures specs though. twisting off to barely top batten and negative outhaulto max.
this sail tuning is not for everyone. advantages for me,
quicker to plane
planes through lulls better
higher topend speed through lulls
higher pointing angle due to less downhaul.